[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/10\/01\/opportunities-for-electric-utilities\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/10\/01\/opportunities-for-electric-utilities\/","headline":"Opportunities for electric utilities: CX shifting the balance of power","name":"Opportunities for electric utilities: CX shifting the balance of power","description":"CX and experience management offer opportunities for electric utilities to meet customers\u2019 high expectations, while maintaining a quality workforce.","datePublished":"2019-10-01","dateModified":"2021-11-29","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/james-mcclelland\/#Person","name":"James McClelland","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/james-mcclelland\/","identifier":275,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0ac87fe035540f04e7f557795a26652d5d9f09571dd108764e26e7e51bf2dbde?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0ac87fe035540f04e7f557795a26652d5d9f09571dd108764e26e7e51bf2dbde?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/thumbnail-e92cb8488da72b66985bcff3da4a78db.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/thumbnail-e92cb8488da72b66985bcff3da4a78db.jpeg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/10\/01\/opportunities-for-electric-utilities\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/customer-experience\/","name":"Customer Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_experience","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q984142"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/customer-experience\/customer-experience-general\/","name":"Customer Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_experience","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q984142"]},"Field Service",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/intelligent-enterprise\/","name":"Intelligent Enterprise","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Intelligent_enterprise","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q6044119"]}],"wordCount":1138,"keywords":["Utilities"],"articleBody":"There are opportunities for electric utilities in the era of CX, but there are also challenges.It’s become a familiar predicament for companies in the power business: How to meet customers\u2019 heightened expectations for a high-quality experience with the company, its brand, products, services, and people, while at the same time maintaining a quality workforce to consistently provide the experiences customers expect?According to\u00a0research from Capgemini, 81% of consumers \u2014 and 73% of utility customers \u2014 would be willing to spend more for a better experience. Meanwhile,\u00a0separate research by IDC\u00a0indicates energy suppliers have plenty of room to improve in that regard. \u201cEnergy consumers around the world suggest that the customer experience provided by energy suppliers is mediocre at best,\u201d IDC concludes, citing ratings in which consumers gave energy suppliers an average score of 3.03 on a scale of 1 to 5.The prevailing talent shortage certainly isn\u2019t helping matters. According to a\u00a0recent report\u00a0from the Energy Futures Initiative, 77% of U.S. energy industry employers have had difficulty hiring qualified workers in the last 12 months, up almost seven percentage points from the prior year.As heavily as talent figures into the quality-of-service equation, there\u2019s an X factor that is fast gaining strategic relevance in an increasingly consumer-focused energy business. It\u2019s called\u00a0experience management (XM), a term that speaks to the growing importance that data \u2014 and the intelligent technologies to gather, interpret and act upon it \u2014 has in enabling companies to (1) shape the experiences they provide to customers and to prospective and current employees; and (2) to develop new revenue streams and explore new business models.In a world where companies are disproportionally rewarded when they deliver a great experience and punished when they don\u2019t, here\u2019s an equation worth getting to know:\u00a0X+O=XM, where O represents business operations data gathered from across the enterprise, and X represents experience data gathered from feedback provided by customers and by employees.Experience management essentially is how enterprises strategically connect the insight they gain from that feedback directly to business outcomes. In today\u2019s energy business, a growing contingent of companies are investing in the digital capabilities to make those connections, and by doing so, are leveraging XM to strengthen the outcomes they deliver to employees and customers alike.Opportunities for electric utilities: The X factor in talent attraction and retentionOrganizations that focus on employee experience report up to four times more profit per employee, three times more revenue per employee and have a turnover rate 40% lower than the average company – this opens up tremendous opportunities for electric utilities.An emphasis on employee experience, supported by digital XM capabilities, can provide companies in the talent-hungry energy business with a powerful edge in keeping employees engaged. Say a power company, using advanced analytics applied to business operations data, identifies several service issues, among them an inordinately large amount of time to execute work orders, along with a high rate of back-ordered materials on service calls, and a higher than acceptable level of customer complaints about technicians\u2019 quality of service.With XM tools, the company could, via an app, online portal, etc., provide both customers and technicians\u00a0with opportunities to give feedback after a service experience. Maybe there are common refrains from customers like, \u201cYour service technician was not knowledgeable\u201d and \u201cThe technician didn\u2019t come prepared with the materials to complete the job.\u201d And maybe they hear from technicians, \u201cI didn\u2019t feel adequately trained to complete this work,\u201d and \u201cThe work order didn\u2019t give me enough advance information about material requirements to complete the job.\u201dBy combining X insights from customers and employees, the company gains\u00a0real-time insights around what is influencing service KPIs.\u00a0It then can act on these insights by addressing customer issues and on the employee side, by improving technician training in the identified area(s) and subsequently rewarding technicians for completing that training, and by improving labor and materials planning by providing technicians with timelier, more thorough work orders. Going forward, technicians now believe their employer is investing more in their on-the-job success.Bigger picture, by combining the intelligence they gain from the X and O data, power companies gain a clearer picture of the key experience drivers impacting engagement and attrition in the workforce.They then can allocate resources accordingly to strengthen training, to upskill employees who perhaps want to ply their talents in some emerging area of the energy business, and to arm employees with tech tools that help them do their jobs better while freeing them from repetitive, mundane work. All this feeds the employee engagement that helps companies to reduce turnover and keep the talent they value.The X factor to deepen and broaden customer relationshipsConsumer preferences are pushing power companies to evolve from mere commodity peddlers into\u00a0trusted sources of solutions and advice. Research shows, for example, that a significant share of electricity consumers want energy-efficiency products and services like home electric vehicle charging, whole-home monitoring packages built around smart thermostats, and home solar options. What\u2019s more, they want the convenience of being able to source, and get advice about, these products and services from the same companies that supply their energy.All of which feeds into the elevated experience that consumers now expect the companies with which they do business to deliver. XM approaches are enabling power providers to fulfill those expectations, and to explore new revenue opportunities in the process.A company could, for example, capture feedback to better understand customer preferences around adoption of new products and services\u00a0before\u00a0they are introduced. Say via the company app or their personalized home energy usage page, a sizable contingent of a power provider\u2019s customers express interest in a home energy management system packaged with a security system.The company then can configure a bundle that caters specifically to that customer segment and market it in a highly personalized way via customers\u2019 preferred channels. Once the leads generated by the customized campaign are converted into actual orders (via a simple, seamless experience that includes in-the-moment interactions where, for example, the customer gets advice on which security system is best for their size home), the company can use XM tools to gather feedback from customers and technicians during and after installation to further improve the overall experience.These types of interactions already are occurring in electricity markets in the U.S. and abroad as organizations recognize opportunities for electric utilities, orchestrated by companies who have come to realize just how important better experiences are, to their customers, their employees and their bottom lines.  Every digital moment matters.Are you making the most of them?1,000 business leaders dish on how to stand out from the crowd with a great CX. Get the details\u00a0HERE.\u00a0This article was first published on Power Grid, and is syndicated here with permission."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2019","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/\/10\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"01","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/\/10\/\/01\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Opportunities for electric utilities: CX shifting the balance of power","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/10\/01\/opportunities-for-electric-utilities\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]